37 comments:

Great primer on using grey, AnneMarie. I've not been a grey fan, but the warm shades are growing on me. You gave some great information for choosing the right hue and shade for one of the more difficult colors to work with. I love the moleskin colors best.

This was helpful to me. Our great room has a high ceiling paneled in pine, a timberframe, and yellow light from stained glass windows (formerly a church sanctuary). We are paneling the walls and thinking of painting a shade of grey. Considering going with gloss as it is a somewhat dark space and there are young children running amok. Thanks for the great selection of photos.

I am thinking of using a warm grey on the walls but want to use a darker grey as the carpet. Is that too much grey for a master bedroom? Do you have any suggestions? My other thought is to use grey with a light/ice blue color?

Great post about the range of grey colors! I'm looking for the perfect neutral-undertoned grey to paint throughout a south-facing apartment that will complement white marble with grey veins, oversized white base boards and crown molding, and a distressed cigar brown leather couch. Would love any feedback on the best BEHR paint color? I just swatched BEHR Natural Grey and I like it, just worried that it may have a purple undertone like you mentioned in your post.

Love this post! I have a rectangle shaped living room with a picture window that faces east. It gets decent natural light but it doesn't reach the whole room. I am stuck with cheap tan carpet, a camel orangish tan couch, very orange tan piano, black entertainment center and white/light wood butcher top farmhouse style dinning table. I thought with my mix of neutral stuff a pale cool grey wall would be a good ground. Then eventually paint the piano black. And the table with colorful cushions. I am going crazy staring at paint chips! Help! I will be using behr as I have been given home depot gift cards. Suggestions?!

Love this post! I'm in the process of painting the interior of my home, which I just bought. I have two rooms (sitting area and dining room) that faces the East. These rooms don't get the extreme bright light in the morning since there are trees that block some of the light. I've tried a Behr grey color called Manhattan Mist. I noticed that during the day the color has a purple hue. I was surprised because it's in the blue neutrals family on the Behr website. What color grey would you suggest for these rooms?

I have chocolate brown furniture and want to paint Grey or Greige In our main living space, we have lots of natural light and windows throughout. SHould I be going for more of a warm undertone or a cool one? I would think warm because of the brown furniture but I am not sure because wouldnt a cool shade help balance the room more?

Thank you,I really get what you are saying,especially the way the sample versus the reality looks I now get from my own choices,I did grey with purple tones,ok but not happy with 100%, will listen to your advice,thanks,ivyn

I'm trying to select a grey color for my living room too!...I initially chose BM called Grey Shower, and I didn't like it one bit! It made the wall look blue or dark purple..not what I was looking for. I'm looking for a full warm/earth tones gray as an accent wall and that will compliment a lime green accent wall...yes I know it could be too much, but I'm hoping i can find the right balance.

Hi! Just bought my first house and finding choosing how I want to decorate it very challenging! I know I want grey based neutrals and your post very helpful in understanding what grey to choose. I hope this isn't a silly question but what is BM paint? I've googled it and just want to confirm it is Benjamin Moore & Co?? Not sure I'll be able to buy that as I am in Scotland. I was planning on using Dulux. Could you recommend any of their shades?

How do we find the responses to the comments? I have read this and many other gray instructional posts. I have about 10 samples painted on my walls. I am still lost. I am moving from brown tone walls and furniture to light gray furniture and area carpets. Dark floors and likely dark gray accent chairs. I want light to medium gray walls. I am more lost on the undertones now. I have BM coventry (appears warm with green under ?) and BM san antonio grey (blue under?). I like their Smoke Ember for kitchen so far (? undertone?) thanks

I have a 2 shades of cool gray in my house on almost every wall with the exception of the wainscoting that is approx. 6 ft. up the walls in white. I pick accent walls to use darker grays and the rest are the lighter grays. I love it! I've paired it up with teal in the living room and formal dining room. But in the kitchen more just grays and whites with dark cherry cabinets. I just can't find the right gray for my bedroom. I had painted it with that horrible silver metallic paint of Martha Stewart's and it's so streaky and drives me crazy. I want the colors to flow into my bedroom but I am not sure if it should be a more bluish gray or silver. But if someone is afraid of using the gray, don't be. I am usually one that loves color, but you can put so much with gray. It is like a warmer version of white. Which my whole house was white.

I love your picture of cool gray, camel, warm white and black! You mentioned above the photo that you had done your living room in these colors? Do you have more pictures yet? I would love to see more examples of these great colors. Thanks!

I just got new carpet installed and it ends up being a purple based grey...the swatch looked like brown based, but once done I'm left with purple. Now I definitely need to paint my walls so looking for color suggestions...HELP - right now I'm hating my brand new carpet!

Wow these rooms are great! each one pops with its own character. Now when choosing the flooring for a room like this what would be the deciding factor between wood and carpet? is it just a personal choice ?

This is so interesting and beautiful! I notice that most of your rooms feature some black furniture. I have some soft black furniture too but far more dark, warm timber items. Which grey colours would be good for walls, window treatments, upholstery with these?

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